Recent Headlines

While I — and every other person who has lost a friend or relative to a murderer — would agree that if any killer ever deserved execution, it is Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood mass murderer, putting him to death is the biggest mistake we could make.

It is exactly what he wants. He is fully aware that if he is executed, radical Islamists will consider him a martyr and be inspired to more acts of terrorism to “avenge” his “martyrdom.”'

We should not give him what he so desperately seeks. We should, instead, let him rot in prison. He won't live that long, and even if he does, he will eventually be forgotten.

He won't be forgotten by us, but he will eventually be forgotten by radical Islam.

Columnist Froma Harrop is to be applauded for her piece. Well said. I just want to add the fact that much localized pollution can eventually be cleaned up when people get their heads on straight. Global pollution (the kind that “invisible planet-warming gases” produces), however, can't.

Bill Hurley

The dream updated

After the recent commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, during which Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, we should all reflect on the words “all men are created equal.”

And we should all consider the comments of President Barack Obama and poet Maya Angelou in which they interpreted the words of Dr. King to include all men — gays, immigrants, veterans, etc.

And, then, all who truly honor King should respect his words and promote his dream.

Ron Soele

Kerry misguided

As I was listening to Secretary of State John Kerry give his impassioned remarks on Syria, first on Aug. 29, then on Tuesday, I was reminded of another testimony of his that appears to have been forgotten.

After Kerry testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on April 17, he was questioned about getting straight answers on what happened in Benghazi, where our ambassador and three other Americans were killed.

“Now that I am the secretary and I am responsible to you and the Congress,” he told the committee. “I can promise that if you're not getting something that you have evidence of or you think you ought to be getting, we'll work with you.”

Then he added that he would “appoint somebody to work directly with you starting tomorrow ... let's get that done with, folks.”

As Americans consider his pleas for support of striking Syria, I hope they will remember his callous remark after the discussion on Benghazi: “We got a lot more important things to move on to and get done.”

We are approaching the anniversary of the attack on Benghazi, and it seems as though Kerry has more compassion for those poor souls poisoned in Syria than he has for the families of our own foreign service representatives killed in Benghazi.

The misplaced priority of athletics over academics will not change any time soon.

My dad told me the following joke about 50 years ago, which shows how long this has been a problem:

A great football player was declared ineligible because he had failed all his tests. His coach begged the administration to let him play. They agreed — if he could pass a simple spelling test. Thinking he might have trouble, the coach asked if the boy could get just one letter correct on one word. The administration agreed. The word was “coffee.” The boy spelled it: K-A-U-P-H-Y. They let him play because (1) he tried so hard and (2) it sounded right.

Regarding the proposal by Robert McKechnie, in which he suggested taking free photos of voters when they go to the poll, I say, let's go for it ASAP. This could be easily done. Most of them went through the same procedures to get their membership cards at some of these big-box stores.

Now, let's see if this can be done as quickly as the name of Durango Street got changed.

You ran a great letter about taking the photos of voters at the polls and issuing free ID cards.

I have another idea: If Congress cannot come up with a federal budget, take 10 percent of members' salaries each year. After four years without a budget, they must turn in their government ID cards and join the unemployed.